Brake-beam fulcrum and method of manufacture.



PATENTED JULY 23, 1907.

B; I. DODDS. BRAKE BEAM FULGRUM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 30. 1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED JULY 23, 1907. 6

I E. I. DOD'DS, BRAKE'BEAM PULGRUM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE.

APPLICATION IILED OUTQ30. 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

5 in 6 2 2 y 1 M I \y \I/ Q 1 5 Z l 27 2 No. 860,966. AEENTED JULY 23,1907.

- V B. I. DODDS.

BRAKE BEAM FULGRUM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 30. 1905.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

UTE STATES PATENT FFICE.

ETHAN I. DODDS, OF PULLMAN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE PULLMAN COMPANY,OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

BRIDGE-BEAM .FULCRUM AND Specification of Letters Patent.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURE.

Patented July 23, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ETHAN I. DODDS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pullman, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Brake-Beam Fulcrums andMethods of Manufacture, of which the following is a specification.

It is well known that malleable and cast iron fulcrums for brake beamsare subject to defects such as sand and air holes and the like and forthat reason some times break in service at the most critical momentswhen application of the brake shoes to the car wheels is imperative.

To overcome this difiiculty and produce a rolledmetal fulcrum which ishomogeneous throughout and which is nevertheless economical tomanufacture, I have devised a fulcrum and a method of producing thesearticles from sheet metal.

This method also includes an inexpensive manner of cutting a strip ofmetal so as to produce fulcrums of which the ears attached to theoperating lever are of a different length from those secured to thebrake beam.

in its simplest form the process consists in shearing inwardly from theopposite ends of a metal blank or sheet so as to form two tongues orstrips at each end and an uncut portion at the center. Two of thesediagonally opposite end tongues are then bent upwardly parallel to eachother, the remaining two being bent similarly in the opposite direction.The two pairs of tongues may also be twisted relatively to one anotherby bending but not straining the metal to secure a desirable angulardisplacement, which twisting or bending operation may be performedsimultaneously with or subsequently to the turning up of the paralleltongues.

The characteristic features of my invention are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and in allthe views of which like reference characters refer to the same parts.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved brake beam fulcrum showingthe'same attached to a brake beam and also to an actuating lever. Fig. 2is a side elevation of one form of my fulcrum and illustrates itsapplication to an I-brake beam and to an operating lever; Fig. 3 is aplan view of the structure shown in Fig. 2 with the operating leveromitted; Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of. brake beamfulcrum applied to the brake beam and to the operating lever; Fig. 5 isa plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 4, the operating lever beingomitted; Fig. 6 is a view of a blank from-which a single brake beamfulcrum, which has both pairs of lugs or attaching ears of the samelength is manufactured, and Fig. 7 illustrates the manner in which astrip of rolled metal may be cut into a number of parts each of whichmay be bent up to form v a brake beam fulcrum in which the pairs of carsare of different lengths.

To produce by my improved method a rolled sheetmetal fulcrum with earsor tongues of equal length I slit a sheet metal plate or blank 10inwardly from both ends, as shown in Fig. 6, so as to produce cuts orslits l1, 11, leaving the central portion of the blank uncut. Thisshearing or slitting operation provides two tongues 12 and 13 at oneend, and 14 and 15 at the other end. The two diagonally opposite tonguesor strips 13 and 14 are then bent upwardly parallel to each other, theremaining tongues '12 and 13 being bent downwardly parallel to eachother. During these bending operations the bases or roots of theparallel tongues are bent as shown so as to produce the proper angulardisplacement or relation between the two pairs of tongues or stripswhereby they correspond to the angular positions of the brake beam andoperating lever. In other words the two pairs of tongues or attachingears are twisted relatively to each other but by the term twist 1 do notimply the straining of any part of the metal, the twist beingaccomplished solely by bending. These bending manipulations areperformed so as to leave space between the two brake-beam attachingstrips for the accommodation of the oppositely extended flanges 18 ononeedge of the web of the I-brake beam 16. A rivet 19 secures the ears ortongues 15 and 12 securely to the web of the brake beam, the samepassing through holes ill the ears and-in the web. Lever 17 is pivotedto and between ears 13 and 14 by means of a bolt, pin or rivet 20 whichpasses through apertures in the ears and through a hole in the lever.

The fulcrums may be made to fit the brake beam in either one of two waysshown in Figs. 2 and 3 and 4 and 5, respectively. In the form shown inFigs. 2 and 3 the portions 21 of tongues 12 and 15 engage the edges ofthe brake beam flanges the full width of the tongues, this result beingaccomplished by causing the'opposite edges 22 and 23 of ears 15 and 12to follow more or less closely the contours of the under sides of theflanges 24 and 25, fillets 26, and the sides of the brake beam web, thustaking up more or less metal, while the opposite edges 27 and 28 oftongues 15 and 12, respectively, do not closely follow the contoursspecified. As a result the tongues are properly positioned to engage theweb of the brake beam and to hug the edges of its oppositely extendedflanges.

The other way of forming the fulcrum and fitting it to its brake beam isillustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. In order to dispose of the surplus metalon the opposite edges of tongues 12 and 15 so as to bring the tonguesparallel and in the position indicated I may so bend the tongues onlines 29 and 30, inclined to the beam flanges, that they grip the edgesof the brake beam flanges only at the edges 31 and 32 of the tongues,the

other portions of the latter members extending away from the flanges, asshown, whereby the surplus metal is cared for in the manner indicatedinstead of the tongues closely following the contour of the brake beam.

When it is desired to produce from a longitudinal strip of metal anumber of sheet metal brake beam fulcrums of which the pairs of cars areof different lengths without waste of material the strip is sheared inthe manner illustrated in Fig. 7. Thelong strip 23 is passed through acutting machine which severe it into a number of blanks each of whichhas its longitudinal halves of the same length but displaced lengthwiserelatively to one another to a small extentas indicated by the centralblank 34 shown in Fig. 7. Each out which severs a blank from the stripconsists of a number of parts of which the two transverse cuts 35 and 36are offset somewhat, the inner ends of the cuts being united by alongitudinal cut 37 which is extended beyond the cuts 35 and 36 to thepoints 38 and 39. It

will be apparent that as the strip 33 is passed through wardly forattachment to the web of the brake beam,-

While the remaining diagonal strips or tongues 42 and 43 are bent in theopposite direction for attachment to the actuatiug lever. These pairs oftongues are also bent or twisted relative to one another to compensatefor the different angular positions of the brake beam lever.

I claim:

1. A brake beam fulcrum made of rolled metal having a central plateportion, a pair of parallel tongues for attachment to a brake beamintegral with and bent up from said plate portion in one direction, anda pair of parallel ears for attachment to an actuating lever integralwith and bent up from said plate portion in the opposite direction, onelongitudinal edge of each of said brakebeam ears being bent. to conformsubstantially to the contour of the brake-beam while the oppositelongitudinal edge does not conform to the shape of the brake-beam,substantially as described.

2.. A brake beam fulcrum made of rolled metal having a center plateportion.- a pair of parallel tongues for attachopposite ends, bendingtwo of the strips or tongues so pro- I duced in one direction andbending the two remaining strips in the opposite direction,substantially as described.

4.-The method of manufacturing a brake beam fulcrum which consists inslitting a metal sheet inwardly from its opposite ends, bending two ofthe diagonallyppposite strips so produced .in one direction, and bendingthe remaining two diagonally-opposite strips in the opposite direction;

substantially as described. I

5. The method of manufacturing a brake beam'fulcrum which. consists inshearing a rectangular metal sheet inwardly from its opposite ends,bending two of the diagonally-opposite strips or tongues so produced inone direction and bending the remaining two diagonally-opposite stripsor tongues in the opposite direction, substantially as described.

6. The method of manufacturing a brake beam fulcrum which consists inshearing a metal sheet inwardly from its opposite ends, bending two ofthe diagonally-opposite strips or tongues so produced parallel to eachother in one direction, and bending the remaining twodiagonally-opposite strips or tongues parallel to each other .in theopposite direction, substantially as described.

7. The method of manufacturing a brake beam fulcrum which consists inshearing a metal sheet inwardly from its ends, bending two of thediagonally-opposite strips or tongues so produced parallel to each otherin one direction, and bending the remaining two diagonally-oppositestrips or tongues parallel to each other in the opposite direction, saidbending operations also angulurly displacing said pairs of tongues tocorrespond to the angular relation of the brake-beam and operatinglever, substantially as described.

8. The method of cutting a strip of metal into blanks to be used for themanufacture of brake beam fulcrums which consists in cutting a metalstrip into pieces, each of which is slit inwardly from each end for aportion of its length, by a series of cuts each of which consists of twotransverse portions offset longitudinally of the strip with relation toone another and a third portion joining said ottset portions andextending therebeyond in both directions, sub stantially as described.

ETHAN I. DODDS.

Witnesses FREDERICK C. Gooowm, WALTER'M. FULLY-ill.

